The brother of murdered TV presenter Jill Dando has said he hopes a new Netflix documentary looking into her unsolved murder may ‘prick the conscience’ of her killer and make them come forward.
The former Crimewatch presenter, who grew up in Weston, was shot dead aged 37 outside her home in Fulham, West London, on April 26, 1999. Sex offender Barry George was convicted of Ms Dando’s murder in 2001 and was acquitted at a retrial in 2008.
Netflix series ‘Who Killed Jill Dando?’ out this week features interviews with Nigel Dando, who is nine years older than his late sister. He said he believes his sister’s killer is still alive and that they or anyone else who knows something could come forward when they see the documentary.
“It was a painful time and it remains a painful memory,” he said. “But I thought, well, if I get involved, I can do my bit and maybe overall this documentary may just jog somebody’s conscience into coming forward and confessing that they were the person who pulled the trigger on the day in question.”
“It’s as simple as in one way but it’s a difficult thing to expect to happen. And I have to be realistic. That here we are 24 years on, whoever killed Jill is still at large; 24 years on, are they still alive? My belief is that if they are alive, then they do have a conscience and programmes like this may just prick the conscience of whoever did it. There are also people around who have some knowledge of this. I would say to them, it’s never too late.”
Meanwhile, Nigel Dando has praised a student journalism scheme which is running in local schools in Jill’s memory – including King Alfred School Academy in Highbridge.
Since 2017, Nigel has helped pioneer the ‘Jill Dando News’ project that ensures her legacy is kept alive and expanding daily through the lives of thousands of young people.
The children find and write ‘real’ local, national and global good news stories with kindness, positivity and brilliance – just like Jill herself in her sparkling journalism career.
The scheme began in Jill’s former school, Worle Academy, part of The Priory Learning Trust, where she first started writing news stories aged 13 for the school’s magazine ‘Merlin’. Since then children aged 8 to 18, trained by Nigel and other professional journalists have expanded the scheme across 12 schools which have over 6000 students involved including The King Alfred School Academy in Highbridge.
Nigel says: “Jill Dando News is a fitting tribute for Jill, an expanding living legacy that children worldwide can take part in. With children finding positive good news stories with kindness, positivity and brilliant journalism, this is what Jill was all about.”
“The Netflix documentary will feature the murder in great detail but the bigger story is that so many growing numbers of young people are becoming wonderful people and brilliant journalists like Jill was, from England to Africa.”
